Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Secret History

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 54,359 ratings · 3,800 reviews

Richard Papen arrived at Hampden College in New England and was quickly seduced by an elite group of five students, all Greek scholars, all worldly, self-assured, and, at first glance, all highly unapproachable. As Richard is drawn into their inner circle, he learns a terrifying secret that binds them to one another...a secret about an incident in the woods in the dead of...more

Hardcover, 559 pages

Published April 13th 2004 by Vintage (first published 1992)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Best Books Ever

344th out of 24,620 books — 93,950 voters

Best Books of the 20th Century

176th out of 4,641 books — 31,479 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Mar 26, 2011 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Katie McCrackin

Okay, this book. This book was a lot of fun, partially, I think, because it was written in this fashion which made determining whether this was past, present or future virtually impossible. It was very romantically written and I tend to go for that sort of thing: simple meals of tomato soup and skim milk, five college-aged students who drink tea as well as burbon, scotch and on occasion whiskey--but not with anything as muddled and middle-class as coke mixed in--no, they drink it on ice, in thic...more Okay, this book. This book was a lot of fun, partially, I think, because it was written in this fashion which made determining whether this was past, present or future virtually impossible. It was very romantically written and I tend to go for that sort of thing: simple meals of tomato soup and skim milk, five college-aged students who drink tea as well as burbon, scotch and on occasion whiskey--but not with anything as muddled and middle-class as coke mixed in--no, they drink it on ice, in thick lead-glass tumblers while spending weekends in a shabby (as only the very wealthy can have) weekend "cottage" which is actually a massive Victorian on the New England coast with a grounds keeper.

The boys are called "eccentric" but eccentric doesn't quite cut it. They are like no boys I've ever met: dressing souly in dark suits and silken cravats, while the lone female is called Camilla, smokes, speaks with a gravely femme-fatale voice and wears over-sized cashmere sweaters and is compared, looks-wise, to Helen of Troy.

This being said, perhaps it's not the most believable of novels, pray tell, however, it is EXACTLY what I LOVE in novels. Granted, there's a murder and some ghastly stuff, but I would much prefer life if it were like this: if No Fear T-shirts had never been invented, if teenagers said "I suppose" and didn't own televisions. If I really had met a girl in college who kept dusty tea-cups and water glasses filled with dandilions on her bedside table.

It was a beautiful book with great character development. It got a little to "masterpiece theater" on me at the end and while one twist would have been enough, there was instead a teather of strings going every-which way...but man what a lovely way to get a little bored...It was so well written, so crisp and precise, so pretty and...novel-like. I haven't been so inspired by setting since Edith Wharton. Really.

This would have been, sans the creepy, the way I HOPED my liberal arts experience would be, instead of over-weight girls with fake tans and highlights, birth-control contrived boobs and Ann Taylor, Banana Republic wanna-be classy with dimpled upper arms. I never met a Camilla, Charles or Henry. What a shame...kind of. I really prefer books to people.

**I write on books and other stuff at www.snapshotnarrative.tumblr.com (less)

81 likes · like · see review

Sep 16, 2009 Martine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, modern-fiction, north-american, psychological-drama, thriller

The first paragraph of The Secret History roughly sums up the mood of the book. In it, the narrator, Richard Papen, says that he thinks his fatal flaw is 'a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs'. If you can relate to these words, chances are you'll love The Secret History. If not, you'll probably wonder what the fuss is all about. Personally, I can totally relate to these words, so I love the book. I've read it over half a dozen times, and while I do think it has its problems, I never...more The first paragraph of The Secret History roughly sums up the mood of the book. In it, the narrator, Richard Papen, says that he thinks his fatal flaw is 'a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs'. If you can relate to these words, chances are you'll love The Secret History. If not, you'll probably wonder what the fuss is all about. Personally, I can totally relate to these words, so I love the book. I've read it over half a dozen times, and while I do think it has its problems, I never fail to find it utterly gripping.

The Secret History is both an intellectual novel of ideas and a murder mystery without the whodunnit element. The reader learns right on the first page that Richard and his friends have killed one among their midst. The rest of the book goes on to explain how they came to their gruesome deed and what happened to them afterwards. Against all odds, it makes for compelling reading, despite the fact that you know right from the start who the killers are. Such is the power of Tartt's writing that you find yourself turning page after page, waiting for answers, justifications and possibly a sign of remorse. Once these have been dealt with, the book loses a bit of its power, but until that time, it's near perfect.

Donna Tartt's great gift as a writer is her magnificent talent for description. Her evocation of life at a small private university in New England with its oddball mix of ivory-tower intellectuals and ditzy cokeheads is rich in detail, both shocking and funny. If it's not entirely realistic, she makes it so. Likewise, her skill at characterisation is superb. While Richard is not entirely convincing as a male narrator (a fact I find more noticeable every time I re-read the book), he and his friends make up a fascinating cast of characters: six aloof, self-absorbed and arrogant intellectuals who are obsessed with ancient Greece and don't particularly care for modern life. They're snobs and they have major issues, but somehow that only makes them more alluring. Together, they form the ultimate inner circle, the kind of tight-knit group you know should always stay together. Which makes it almost understandable that they should be willing to kill anyone who might jeopardise that group dynamic, incomprehensible though this may seem to the average reader.

I can think of many reasons why The Secret History strikes such a chord with me. For one thing, I have a thing for timeless and ethereal stories, and this is one of those. Somehow the book has a dreamlike, almost hypnotic quality, despite it being very firmly set in the rather unromantic 1980s. I love that. For another thing, I have always been drawn to the unabashedly intellectual, and this book has that in spades. It makes geekdom alluring, and I just love Tartt for that. I wish I were as geeky as Henry!

Ultimately, what I think I respond to most in The Secret History is the friendship aspect. The Secret History is very much a book about friendship. It's about the very human yearning to belong and be accepted by people we admire. It's about the sacrifices we make to keep friendships intact, the insecurity we feel when we think we might not be completely accepted by our friends after all, and the paranoia we experience when it seems our friends may have betrayed us. About the feeling of invincibility we get from having great friends, and the melancholy and loneliness that follow the disintegration of a once-great friendship. The book basically reads like an elegy on a great friendship, and one doesn't necessarily have to share Richard's intellectual attitude towards life, his morality or even his morbid longing for the picturesque to be able to relate to that. It's enough to have yearned for close friendship and been insecure in friendship. And let's face it, who hasn't?

I do not think The Secret History is a perfect book. As I said, I find Richard somewhat unconvincing as a male character; there is too much about him that screams 'female author' to me. Furthermore, the ending is decidedly weak, although to be fair, I have no idea how else Tartt could have finished her book. The story does seem to be inexorably heading in that particular direction. Insofar as the ending reflects the disintegration that is going on in the characters' lives, it could probably be said to be appropriate. Still, I wish Tartt could have come up with something on a par with the rest of the book. If she had, this would have been a six-star book. I don't know many of those.
(less)

93 likes · like · see review

Jan 10, 2013 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

Apparently the New York Times described The Secret History as "Powerful...Enthralling...A ferociously well-paced entertainment" and Time said "A smart, craftsman-like, viscerally compelling novel."

Very funny, guys, ha ha and all that. They're such jolly jokesters. They'll have you believing anything. The Secret History is complete tripe - no, that's harsh, let me put it another way - it's COMPLETE TRIPE - oh dear, this keyboard has a mind of its own! and is very firm about its opinions too! - b...more

30 likes · like · see review

Apr 01, 2009 Brent rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

40 likes · like · see review

Sep 26, 2008 Rebecca rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

This novel, like so many other first novels, is full of everything that the author wants to show off about herself. Like a freshman who annoys everyone with her overbearing sense of importance and unfathomable potential, Donna Tartt wrote this book as though the world couldn't wait to read about all of the bottled-up personal beliefs, literary references, and colorfully apt metaphors that she had been storing up since the age of 17.

The most fundamentally unlikable thing about this book is that a...more This novel, like so many other first novels, is full of everything that the author wants to show off about herself. Like a freshman who annoys everyone with her overbearing sense of importance and unfathomable potential, Donna Tartt wrote this book as though the world couldn't wait to read about all of the bottled-up personal beliefs, literary references, and colorfully apt metaphors that she had been storing up since the age of 17.

The most fundamentally unlikable thing about this book is that all of the characters -- each and every one of them -- are snobby, greedy, amoral, pretentious, melodramatic, and selfish. The six main characters are all students at a small and apparently somewhat undemanding college in Vermont, studying ancient Greek with a professor who's so stereotypically gay as to be a homosexual version of a black-face pantomime. In between bouts of translating Greek, the students end up murdering two people, and then devolve into incoherent, drunken, boring decay.

The best thing I can equate this book to is the experience of listening to someone else's dream or listening to a very drunk friend ramble on and on and on, revealing a little too much awkward personal information in the process. The climax of The Secret History's narrative was around page 200, but the book was 500 pages long. So, essentially, this book contained 300 pages of scenes where the characters do nothing but drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, go to the hospital for drinking so much alcohol and smoking so many cigarettes, get pulled over for drunk driving, talk about alcohol and cigarettes, do cocaine, and gossip about each other (while drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes).

Tartt's writing was sometimes genuinely good at establishing a thrilling and suspenseful mood, but other times, especially toward the end, her writing became the kind of self-conscious, contrived, empty prose that I can imagine someone writing just to fill out a page until a good idea comes to them, kind of like how joggers will jog in place while waiting for a traffic light. That kind of writing practice is fine...as long as the editor is smart enough to cut it before the final copy. The last 300 pages were the authorial equivalent of that kind of jogging while going nowhere, and it soured the whole book for me.

In the book's attempt to comment on the privilege, self-interest, and academic snobbery of rich college kids in New England, the book itself comes to be just as self-absorbed and obsessive as its characters -- it turns into a constant litany of unnecessary conversations, sexual tensions that go nowhere, purple prose descriptions of the landscape, contrived plot twists that fizzle out, and forced, overblown metaphors.

The confusing part was that Tartt seemed to identify with (and expect us to identify with) these students -- not to admire them for murdering people, obviously, but to respect and envy their precious contempt for everything modern and popular, as though they lived on a higher plane than normal people. The cliche of academic types being remote from the mundane world and out of touch with reality may have a grain of truth to it, but Tartt took that cliche way too far. The story is set in the early 90s, and yet some of the characters had never heard of ATMs, and they still wrote with fountain pens, drove stick shift cars, cultivated roses in their backyards, wore suits and ties to class, and said things like, "I say, old man!" Did I mention that this story is set in the early 90s? It got to the point where all the anachronisms came to seem ridiculous and gratuitous.

Ostensibly, the point of the novel was to critique the point of view that privileged academics are somehow superior to the average person, but Tartt seemed too enamored of her own characters and the endearing way they held cigarettes between their fingers to really allow that kind of critique to be successful. Maybe Tartt's second novel managed to get away from the claustrophobic selfishness of The Secret History, but I don't feel up to reading it after this.(less)

121 likes · like · see review

Apr 23, 2009 Manny rated it 3 of 5 stars

I remember that I liked it when I read it. But I don't recall that much of the book, and in general my system is that the less I remember, the more I mark it down. Of course, that could say more about me than about the book.

I do recall being just a little skeptical about how good the author's knowledge of classics was. It's not like I know anything about the subject - I did a couple of years of Latin at school, which I hated, and I only just passed my exams. But there were a couple of funny mome...more I remember that I liked it when I read it. But I don't recall that much of the book, and in general my system is that the less I remember, the more I mark it down. Of course, that could say more about me than about the book.

I do recall being just a little skeptical about how good the author's knowledge of classics was. It's not like I know anything about the subject - I did a couple of years of Latin at school, which I hated, and I only just passed my exams. But there were a couple of funny moments. Like, I remember a bit where the word "Argentine" came up, and the narrator says that the "Argent" piece sounds golden to her.

Um... "argent" derives from Latin argentum, which (I just looked it up) derives from the Greek 'Αργυρος, translated as silver or white metal. Even I knew the Latin derivation. So the atmosphere didn't feel quite authentic.

____________________________________

I have been feeling a little guilty about nickpicking this book, which, I readily agree, is sometimes quite beautiful and moving. But here's my attempt at a justification. If you're going to write about some form of obsession, it really helps to have experienced that obsession yourself. Most people have been in love at some time, so descriptions of being in love often ring true. At the other end of the spectrum, very few authors are serial killers, and your average fictional serial killer tends to come across as rather silly.

In the middle, you have unusual forms of obsession, which can make good books. But the ones I like most are definitely written by people who've known them first-hand. Nabokov was crazy about chess, and Luzhin's Defense is, at least in my opinion, the only good novel ever written about chess obsession. David Foster Wallace was extremely serious about junior tennis, which is one of the things that make the E.T.A. part of Infinite Jest so compelling. And I find it hard to believe that someone who wasn't himself a literary theorist could have written Small World.

If you're obsessed with something, you immerse yourself in it to such a degree that even tiny details become terribly important. That's why it felt so odd when Donna Tartt got a few things wrong in this book, which is supposed to be about people who are obsessed with classical culture. It shattered the illusion for me, and I was annoyed with her for doing that. But if you aren't as obsessive as I am, there's maybe no reason why it should worry you.

(less)

18 likes · like · see review

Oct 17, 2007 Abby rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who went to a liberal arts college

Shelves: favorites

The Secret History by Donna Tartt is like drinking the scotch the characters drink in the book: smooth, sweet, smoky and scalding. You keep drinking, having no idea how drunk your getting. Then you try to stand up and the world falls out from under your feet.

The Secret History captured me from the first page with the introduction of the narrator, Richard, and his memories of Hampden College in Vermont. He falls in with a group of "Intellectuals" studying the Classics under the tutelage of an ec...more

54 likes · like · see review

Oct 23, 2007 Joe Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Someone just brought up Nietzsche’s Apollonian vs. Dionysian theory, which is described at the link below, if you are as unfamiliar as I was. http://www.geocities.com/danielmacrya...

Apparently Donna Tartt was well-versed in this theme, as it is prevalent in The Secret History. The gist of Nietzsche’s theory is that the ancient Greeks attained such a high level of culture mainly due to their personal struggle between the opposing philosophies of Apollo and Dionysus; Apollo being the god of art, a...more

41 likes · like · see review

Feb 18, 2011 mark monday rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: time-to-come-of-age, murdertime

The Secret History is about as convincing as Less Than Zero. how has this book stayed so popular? well, Less Than Zero also remains popular. i'll take lev grossman's The Magicians over both of them, and that one is aggravating too. (1) i'm so tired of people who are so tired of everything! (1b) ennui is so very boring, almost as boring as (2) pretentious know-it-alls. this book manages to combine all three. i learned nothing except a new way to be irritated. oh, donna tartt... as if!

17 likes · like · see review

Aug 22, 2007 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I’ve read this book probably half a dozen times since I first picked it up in grad school. It’s so thoroughly addictive, for a number of reasons. First, Tartt accomplishes the difficult feat of writing an intellectual novel that is obsessively detail-oriented and yet is an incredibly well-paced mystery. You learn about a murder on the first page, and then the whole novel unravels for you how it happened, with liberal doses of ancient Greek literary and philosophical references thrown in. Second,...more

41 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2008 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

(aka Dead Poets Society ... of DOOM!)

The characters all see the collision coming, as if in slow motion. The time and place are set; they could have turned away, but chose not to, and the story is the path to that explosive collision and the trajectory all the broken parts follow as they burst and separate.

I'm not much for mysteries. Someone dies, someone did it, and so much time is spent finding out who and why. Tartt gives you the who immediately, and although it's never particularly clear WHY,...more

18 likes · like · see review

Jul 04, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who won't be disappointed that not everyone dies

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 book group on GR

Shelves: 1001-books, read-in-2010

Ah smug and mostly over privileged college kids run amock in a half-arsed orgy of sex (or at least some illicit below the belt touching), drugs and classical music (no rock n roll at this Bacchanalian blood fest - that would be way too low brow). I could not stop myself from imagining the cast of Buffy in the title roles if this gets made into a film. Maybe it has been made into a film? I have a proven Goodreads review history of not knowing that books have already been made into films... anyway...more

19 likes · like · see review

May 21, 2009 Laurel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, suspense

I have mixed feelings on this one.

The book centers around a very small/elite group of students studying Greek at a rural New England college. From the very first page, we know that one of these students was killed, and by whom. What we don't know is why.

The secrets to this murder are slowly revealed to us through the point of view of another student, Richard, as he is accepted into the group and sucked into their strange world.

I was definitely gripped by this novel, particularly in the beginning...more

11 likes · like · see review

May 26, 2008 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Kim by: Michelle, Val

Shelves: meh-at-you, contemporary, gr-friend-recommendations

This came highly recommended... and I hate that. It usually means that I'm either going to love it or it will be, eh... okay.

Yep, it was okay. This is my problem with hype. I read and I read and I keep thinking, it will wow me soon, it will, it has to. Then, it's done and here I am.

The story is pretty good, the pace, pretty slow. I felt like I'd seen a Lifetime film based on this at some point, but I did a bunch of googling and there's nothing out there, so scrap that.

Maybe it was my issue wi...more

11 likes · like · see review

Dec 26, 2007 S. added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Heather

Studying the Classics: The Potboiler

Okay, so if you like Bret Easton Ellis or Thomas Harris, you're going to love this 500+ page novel about a group of Greek studies students. Yep, they're studying Greek and the classics. Wait, where are you going, Gentle Reader? You don't find reading Aristotle in the original as exciting as a comic book film?

Author: Donna Tartt is a Southern writer--if by that definition you only mean a writer who is from the South. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, she was educ...more Studying the Classics: The Potboiler

Okay, so if you like Bret Easton Ellis or Thomas Harris, you're going to love this 500+ page novel about a group of Greek studies students. Yep, they're studying Greek and the classics. Wait, where are you going, Gentle Reader? You don't find reading Aristotle in the original as exciting as a comic book film?

Author: Donna Tartt is a Southern writer--if by that definition you only mean a writer who is from the South. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, she was educated at the University of Mississippi and, the rather un-Southern, Bennington College, where she and Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho) became friends. The Secret History (dedicated to Ellis) is Tartt's first novel, which earned her a prodigious $450,000 advance. Currently, Tartt publishes as a contributing writer to the magazine the Oxford American; my favorite piece of which is her essay entitled "Spirituality in the Modern Novel" (issue Nov/Dec 1999).

Plot: It's simple: a group of Greek students kill their friend. Now if you think I've spoiled the plot all you have to do is read the Prologue to discover this for yourself. Tartt gives away the usual carrots in a mystery (who gets it and who did it).

Richard Papen, the narrator of the novel, (Tartt takes on the male voice to tell this thriller--though I think it has more to do with the dynamics of the inner Greek circle than a comment on the male murderous mentality) is a kid from Plano, CA--never trust them West Coast folks--who ends up studying Plato at an exclusive New England private college (much like Bennington). He soon joins an inner circle of Greek students under the tutelage of their demi-god Julian, a mysterious professor who demands such complete dedication to his course of study that the students have to only take classes under him. The group of students consists of Henry, the most intelligent, wealthy, and darkly charismatic of the group and ultimately a sort of Pan to Julian's Dionysus; Francis, a Victorian-ish homosexual; the twins Charles and Camilla--the only girl and the group's love interest, except for Francis; and Bunny, the jovial and annoying victim.

Tartt cleverly reveals in the Prologue that Richard, already a part of the group, participates in the murder of Bunny. Then as the novel begins, we follow Richard as he meets these strange people and becomes accepted by them. We are pulled into the novel wondering why Bunny, a friend of theirs, has to be killed.

The Pretense: With references to Homer, Dante (sure he's Italian but he's still an oldie), Plato, Aristotle, Euripides, Jacobean revenge plays (British but who reads those guys anymore anyway), and so on, it's candy for geek, I mean Greek, wannabes, like me. All said allusions, however, are in a clear context and often explained so that no prior knowledge is needed (as the above passage shows). In fact, Tartt often painfully over explains these allusions and her references to classical texts/ideas, so be warned. Many readers maybe put off by the cultural elite tone of the book and not be able to empathize with the characters, seeing them as snobs or pretentious poseurs which will ruin the experience of the book. But then, The Secret History's preoccupation with incest, dionysian orgies, and murder reminds us why Ancient Greece was so much fun. (less)

7 likes · like · see review

Jun 14, 2007 Punk rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: queer, good-more-than-once

Fiction. A group of students learn Ancient Greek at a small Vermont college, but something's strange about their exclusive study sessions and reclusive professor. Our narrator starts out on the fringes of their group, but as he grows closer to them he also gets hopelessly entangled in their troubles.

I love this book. It's slow and mysterious, and it uses one of my favorite conceits: a close-knit group of misfit students clearly up to something, or about to be up to something. And I don't mean a...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jul 13, 2008 Madeline rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-list, all-time-favorites

The best word I can think of to describe this book is mesmerizing. You know from the very first page that the narrator and his friends will kill someone during the course of the story - you even know who the victim is and how he dies. But that didn't stop me from reading this book as fast as I could, trying to absorb every word.
A truly gifted author can create the most unappealing character possible and still draw the audience to his/her side. Donna Tartt does exactly this with her main charact...more The best word I can think of to describe this book is mesmerizing. You know from the very first page that the narrator and his friends will kill someone during the course of the story - you even know who the victim is and how he dies. But that didn't stop me from reading this book as fast as I could, trying to absorb every word.
A truly gifted author can create the most unappealing character possible and still draw the audience to his/her side. Donna Tartt does exactly this with her main character, Richard, who is far from a good person. He lies frequently and well, and over the course of his narration will often mention being completely drunk or doing lines of cocaine in a matter-of-fact tone, with absolutely no shame. His five friends, all Greek scholars at an elite private college, are just like him. The six main characters of this story are not good people, and that does not bother them. That's probably what makes them, and their story, so incredibly fascinating.

Here's one of my favorite quotes from the book, and it sort of sums up the entire point of the story:
"The Greeks were different. They had a passion for order and symmetry, much like the Romans, but they knew how foolish it was to deny the unseen world, the old gods. Emotion, darkness, barbarism...Do you remember what we were speaking of earlier, how bloody, terrible things are sometimes the most beautiful? It's a very Greek idea, and a very profound one. Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like the Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our moral selves? Euripides speaks of the Maenads: head thrown back, throat to the stars, 'more like deer than human being.' To be absolutely free! One is quite capable, of course, of working out these destructive passions in more vulgar and less efficient ways. But how glorious to release them in a single burst! To sing, to scream, to dance barefoot in the woods in the dead of night, with no more awareness of mortality than an animal! These are poweful mysteries. The bellowing of bulls. Springs of honey bubbling from the ground. If we are strong enough in our souls that we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face; let God consume us, devour us, unstring our bones. Then spit us out reborn." (less)

18 likes · like · see review

Feb 21, 2008 Lindsey rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: punkass intellectuals, people who feel obligated in life

Shelves: 08-only-not

I don't know about this book...
At first I was drawn into it and I didn't know why. Since I pretty much don't really care for people who are "intellectuals" or jerks (especially ones who feel the need to do something or act a certain way to feel good about what they're doing in life) the main character really wasn't appealing. I think it was the mystery of the death that sucked me in. I had all kinds of ideas about why it happened (most of them revolving around Julian) and when it was finally ki...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jul 15, 2012 Maggie Stiefvater rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult

Five Things About The Secret History.

This is going to be a difficult book for me to talk about. I finished it days ago but I find myself a little verklempt, I’ll admit. It’s been a long time since a book has stuck with me so completely as this one, and I say that having had a quite remarkable year for memorable reading. So, the summary is straightforward and completely unhelpful: a Californian boy arrives at a private New England college where he falls in with a bunch of snooty but delightful C...more Five Things About The Secret History.

This is going to be a difficult book for me to talk about. I finished it days ago but I find myself a little verklempt, I’ll admit. It’s been a long time since a book has stuck with me so completely as this one, and I say that having had a quite remarkable year for memorable reading. So, the summary is straightforward and completely unhelpful: a Californian boy arrives at a private New England college where he falls in with a bunch of snooty but delightful Classics majors who happen to have accidentally killed someone during a Bacchian rite they just happened to be conducting in their spare time. That is a totally truthful depiction of some of the events in the book, but it is not what the book is ABOUT. I will do my best to convince you to pick it up in other ways. Without further ado, here are five things about THE SECRET HISTORY.

1. This is not a new book. All of your friends have already read it. You probably already have a copy of it, actually, that you picked up at some point in the last decade, and now it molders in a box in your master bedroom closet, the one that you never unpacked last time you moved. Right next to your college alarm clock and two boxes of 9-volt batteries and that shirt you can’t throw out because it was a gift. The reason why I’m pointing out that it’s not a new book is because, since reading it, I’ve been told by several people that it is theiwe Favorite Book Ever. It is one thing for you to read a book six months before and maintain it as a Favorite Book. It is something more remarkable when a book can elicit a passionate response from readers twenty years after its publication.

2. This book is full of terrible people. Pretty much the lot of the people that our narrator Richard meets are awful in some way. Self-centered or elitist or potheads or sociopathic or just people with really loud voices in quiet places. Even Richard is not exactly a great guy. But the magic of this novel is that, somehow, you find these terrible people deeply sympathetic. I need to go back and reread it to understand this strange enchantment. How do I find them so charming? Why do I want them to like Richard? GIVE ME YOUR SECRETS, BOOK.

3. This is not a whodunit. You are told pretty much the Bad Thing That Happens in the prologue, and you can see it coming like a comet for much of the book. The effect of this, however, is to create a lovely, unbearable tension and anticipation. And when the moment comes — in a line that involves ferns — it is so deliciously awful. I actually exhaled gloriously and put the book down for a moment because I was so delighted by the actual pay off.

4. It’s long. It’s over 200,000 words long, I think, and 600 pages in my edition. It took me five days to read it. And it’s not just long, it’s dense. One of the blurbs on the inside of the jacket said that it read like a 19th century novel, and I don’t think that’s at all unearned. It takes its time developing atmosphere and character quirks and some of the days in the novel take dozens of pages to unfold. It is not a novel to speed through. It’s a novel to get stuck in. I put it down when I got too tired, when I felt like I was starting to skim.

5. WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY? I adore the characters so much. I adore the hint —the breath — of the supernatural. I adore the slow, building tension and the sense that I, as a reader, was being skillfully manipulated. Yes, that. That last one. I think that is what I love the most about this novel. I get the idea that Donna Tartt was completely in control of this novel. Everything is measured and deliberate and just perfectly done, and I trust her entirely. Fifty pages in, I knew that she was going to tell me a story I was going to enjoy, even if I had no idea what it was going to be.

Man, I just am going to flail about some more. Go read it. (less)

29 likes · like · see review

Oct 09, 2011 Sherrie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favoriteauthors, myfavorites, 2008-book-list

One of my all-time favorite books. I just love the feel and tone of this novel. I can taste the booze, I can smell the cigarettes...it always makes me want to drink, smoke and dress in good clothing. This is about my 80th reading of The Secret History. It gets better each time. The narrator is so great and I secretly love him. What is it about? It's about Greek tragedy, groups of friends that know better, very smart people who know better, autumn, winter, spring thaw, love, hate, booze, cigarett...more

9 likes · like · see review

Mar 15, 2009 Liana rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: college students

Recommended to Liana by: Fabian, like, six years ago

Shelves: favorites

This book has left me with little more choice of words other than mystifying, heart-breaking, astounding, and genius. I'm glad I read it after taking a few undergrad humanities courses but before I was old enough to completely distance myself from the main characters. The book gripped me, and, as I'm known to make hyperbolic statements every now and then, I would like to say that it affected my life. Tremendously. Donna Tartt is an inspiration, and not just that. Her writing is horrifyingly beau...more

7 likes · like · see review

May 27, 2012 Barry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This novel has left me with very mixed feelings; at moments I could easily give this a full score, at other times due to what I consider to be some glaring flaws I want to give it a distinctly average 3 stars.

(Edit: I've just knocked it down to a 3, after trying to discuss this with a friend yesterday I found after only reading it mere months ago I could remember very little character detail but did remember pages and pages of Greek history that have next to no part to do with the actual story,...more This novel has left me with very mixed feelings; at moments I could easily give this a full score, at other times due to what I consider to be some glaring flaws I want to give it a distinctly average 3 stars.

(Edit: I've just knocked it down to a 3, after trying to discuss this with a friend yesterday I found after only reading it mere months ago I could remember very little character detail but did remember pages and pages of Greek history that have next to no part to do with the actual story, never a good sign!)

As always I find it easier to write about what I dislike about a book, and I have plenty of little niggling things here.

Actually my first one isn’t small or niggling at all; it’s pretty big and has bothered me from about halfway. I’ve already discussed it with my GR friend who has (unintentionally) been the biggest reason I got around to reading this now as it’s her favourite book and I respect her opinion, and that’s the drug use in this book. I don’t mean that in a prissy, drugs are bad way, but firstly how they are introduced to the major players of the novel. On 40% (reading on a kindle so I can be absurdly accurate!) we find Richard, our narrator, sitting in a car with known drug user Judy, happily taking coke while spying on Henry. No big deal, had it been setup, but (at least to me) there was no sign that Richard had even accidental passive smoking of weed up to this point, it really threw me on how I had been perceiving the main character for the last 200 pages or so.

Now I’m not prudish with drugs, never been a user myself but have been around them in my time like most would have been. But I went to a University with a student base of around 34,000, and as everyone does I went to parties and gigs, But not once did I stumble upon students using meth, so I’m meant to believe that pretty much every student at the tiny fictional Hampden are happy to take hard drugs like they are candy? Maybe I’m just ignorant of 80’s America drug use, but every time drugs were mentioned it just didn’t ring true for me.

Now I’ve got that rant out of the way other things that bothered me were that the second half of the book simply isn’t as engrossing as the first, it’s far from bad, but after how great the first part was it seems a bit deflated, and the part where everyone is at the Corcoran’s is very sluggish, but luckily it’s short.

And oh oh oh Donna, why mention the Bacchanal so little! Yes it’s probably intentional, making you want to read the rest of the novel just in case, but really?! You take potentially the most interesting single piece and it gets about two further mentions in the book, never in any detail at all. It works as it is, but I defy anyone who loved this book not to be aching to know more about what happened that night.

I’m going to stop there because even to myself I’m currently wondering how I gave it 4 stars. But it’s pretty simple really, it’s so damn readable. Ignore the absurd drug use; ignore the pretty unbelievable characters that even in a 550 page novel you never really learn enough about; ignore that every male (including her twin brother!) seems to be in love with the female who doesn’t seem to actually have one good thing going for her; ignore that the whole novel is pretty contrived and it seems impossible for Richard to stumble upon exactly the next piece of information he needs at exactly the right time. After all that; most of which you only discover upon completion of the book, you’ve got a superbly written, page turning mystery (reverse-mystery? I have no idea if there is a correct term for what this book is). I was genuinely gripped for reasons I almost can’t put my finger on beyond the quality of Tartts’ writing and needing to know how the players in this quintessential modern times Greek tragedy turned out. (less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 23, 2008 Brian Calandra rated it 2 of 5 stars

At the transition from the first to second half of the story, marked by a FIFTY-PAGE reveal in a single monologue by a character who's defining trait is his inscrutable lack of emotion, the reader discovers that things aren't what they seem. Unfortunately, the second half's hook is that things are exactly what they seem: these kids believe every action oozes the portent of Oedipus at the Oracle when, in fact, the world is humming along without paying them the least mind. While that may be the po...more

8 likes · like · see review

Dec 19, 2007 Reid rated it 5 of 5 stars

Having graduated from college just over a year ago, I find this portrait of college life infinitely satisfying. It doesn't hurt that I went to a small, private liberal arts college and took many of my credits in Classics. Nonetheless, I believe any reader can dig into and love this book. I began it on a Thursday and finished it on Tuesday morning at 2 AM. I read the book for 2 hours on a saturday night, for god's sake. Perhaps the best part of the book is that from the opening five pages, you kn...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 28, 2008 Recynd rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-fiction, edgy-fiction, fiction, loved-it

I'm only about halfway through, but my heavens...it's fantastic!

And in response to Lindsey's review of same, I'm neither a "punkass intellectual" nor someone "who feels obligated in live".

Update: I LOVED this book. Loved it.

There are enough synopses written by far more adept synopsizers than I; instead, I'll offer my pros and cons.

********************
PROS

This is one of those (unfortunately) rare novels that has it all: a storyline that is quick to grab, then moves the reader along at the perfec...more I'm only about halfway through, but my heavens...it's fantastic!

And in response to Lindsey's review of same, I'm neither a "punkass intellectual" nor someone "who feels obligated in live".

Update: I LOVED this book. Loved it.

There are enough synopses written by far more adept synopsizers than I; instead, I'll offer my pros and cons.

********************
PROS

This is one of those (unfortunately) rare novels that has it all: a storyline that is quick to grab, then moves the reader along at the perfect pace; sentences that are so well-crafted that I couldn't help but read a few out loud, and many over again, just because I loved the way they felt; characters who, though I couldn't relate to a-one (and, if truth be told, were somewhat interchangeable; see CONS), were so interesting and well-enough developed as to be unforgettable. Oh, and don't let me forget my favorite aspect of this book: the perversion. Ahhhhh, the perversion.

CONS

For such unforgettable characters, I couldn't manage to (a) remember anybody's name; nor (b) really tell them apart. It was sort of odd...I mean, there were five or six major players, and one of them was a chick. It's not like I was trying to juggle a cast of thousands or anything. Let's see, there was the Narrator, the Twin, the Top Dog, the Dead Guy, the Gay Guy...and...the Chick. Was there one more? Okay, there was Dancer, and Prancer, and Donner, and Blitzen, Comet, and Cupid, and Donner, and Blit...wait, I said those already...

Even though, the characters weren't really the important part, at least individually. They were all so freakish, and freakishly similar. And freakishly perverted/. I DO so wish that the author'd have seen fit to expand a litle more; there were enough hints, though, to spark my naughty imagination, but certainly not nearly enough to quench it.

**********************

In the interview with the author at the end of the book, there is mention of an earlier review in which the story was described as "Southern gothic". Tartt, sounding not only disingenuous, but also like one with a stick firmly implanted in her backside, responded: "I'm puzzled by how a novel set wholly in New England, with virtually no Southern references or allusions, could be categorized as Southern gothic." Well, I'LL tell you how it could: IT FEELS SOUTHERN GOTHIC.

Or, more accurately, it feels the way a book that's Southern gothic should feel...bleak, creepy, ethereal, pessimistic, other-than. Foggy. Melancholic. Old-timey, dated.

For the very reasons some critic used "Southern gothic" to describe this novel, I adored it. Two thumbs up.

As an aside, I admit it's not nice to notice someone's ass-stick; it's downright RUDE, even, to point it out. But sometimes I gotta point out the pink elephant in the middle of the room. In any event, if umbrage is taken, I ask that you take a peek...just a quick skim'll do...at the Reader's Guide in the Ballantine paperback edition. Just see if I'm not hitting the nail smack dab in the middle of its head...(less)

8 likes · like · see review

Oct 23, 2007 Kendra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Despite its pretentiousness, I really enjoyed this book. While reading it, my biggest criticism was that you won't actually find college students -- no matter how rich or strange -- who talk or dress or act like these students (at tiny, fictional Hampden College in Vermont) do. Wearing suits on a daily basis? Wearing pince-nez, for god's sake?? After seeing the author's picture and reading her interview at the back of the book, I have to revise that criticism a bit and concede that, just perhaps...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 28, 2007 Liddy Barlow rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2007, fiction

This is one of those novels set at a college (The Rule of Four also comes to mind) that assumes a level of serious scholarship among undergraduates that I find hard to believe. You're dropping Greek epigrams at the local diner? Whatever. Meanwhile, I also attended a small private college in New England, and maybe I ran in the wrong circles, but I didn't know anyone at all with a trust fund, or even anyone willing to drop more than $30 on dinner. We snorted far less cocaine than these characters,...more

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 27, 2007 Philip rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction

I read this book because my boss gave it to me. She knew I was into the Classics and all the so-called "protagonists" in this book are fledgling Classicists. But that, and it's random sprinklings of Latin and Ancient Greek, are about all it has got going for it. I don't think any characters (with the exception of Bunny) are well thought out. They all just seem to be filling some blue-printed role within a motley crew of intellectual outcasts. We're meant to comiserate with the lead because he is...more

4 likes · like · see review

Dec 15, 2011 Jay rated it 4 of 5 stars

If I hadn't been directed to three other incredible books this year by people on Goodreads, I'm betting this would've been my favorite book this year.

If I was ever to plan a murder or knew of someone who was planning one, I'd recommend that they read this book first. Much like "Crime and Punishment," this book shows that intellectual people and murdering don't go well together. I loved how this book starts by revealing the victim and the murderers right off, yet provides so much suspense all th...more

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 19, 2011 Tatiana marked it as abandoned

Recommended to Tatiana by: Regina

Shelves: 1001, mysteries-thrillers-horror, why-the-hype

I am pretty sure books about academia are not for me, especially about elite liberal arts academia. It's hard to care about these pretentious teenagers, talking about Greek, philosophy and whatever else. Maybe it is because I personally don't know even one student (and I have spent a fair amount of time in undergraduate and graduate school) that was this wrapped up in these subjects. My experience with school was more practical, with people studying to get jobs, worrying about paying their tuiti...more

6 likes · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Donna Tartt: Availability of The Secret History	1	15	Jan 07, 2013 06:24pm
Donna Tartt: Design classic: the cover of the first edition of The Secret History	1	11	Jan 07, 2013 06:15pm
Boxall's 1001 Bo...: December {2011} Discussion -- THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt	49	305	Nov 27, 2012 11:48pm
Question about the farmer's murder	12	373	Sep 05, 2012 06:14pm
Runs with scissors: The Secret History	4	47	Aug 29, 2011 08:04am

combine
Other Editions (68)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery

437 users

Contemporary

152 users

Thriller

145 users

Mystery > Crime

134 users

Book Club

133 users

Novels

124 users

Literature

121 users

Literary Fiction

83 users

Adult Fiction

76 users

Suspense

75 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt (born 23 December 1963) is an American writer who received critical acclaim for her two novels, The Secret History (1992) and The Little Friend (2002). Tartt was the 2003 winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for The Little Friend.

The daughter of Don and Taylor Tartt, she was born in Greenwood, Mississippi but raised 32 miles away in Grenada, Mississippi. At age five, she wrote her fir...more

More about Donna Tartt...

Books by Donna Tartt

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Secret History

9 trivia questions
1 quiz

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Secret History

“Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.” — 126 people liked it

“Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.” — 102 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Secret History
avg rating	preview: The Secret History Goodreads rating: 4.03 (54359 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29044.The_Secret_History?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327733397l/29044.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29044.The_Secret_History?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Secret History by Donna Tartt[/url]

The Secret History

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website